Is there any impact for playing players out of position, e.g. playing my PF at the SF spot?

A.

There is no artificial penalty for playing out of position. The effects (good and bad) will depend on how well the player's skills fit that position. For example, it's not a good idea to play a guy with poor ball handling at PG, or a poor rebounder at C.

#310

Game Planning

Q.

Is there any way to keep a player from fouling?

A.

Fouls are normally related to a player's defensive IQ, defense rating, speed, and athleticism. On top of that, you'll have more fouls if you are pressing and/or playing your defense inside or double-teaming.

#311

Game Planning

Q.

What happens if one of my players gets injured?

A.

If a player is injured beyond the current game, he may be unavailable to play in games or he will play at less than full effectiveness. The Health value shows the current effectiveness level of the player. If the player's health drops below 50%, he'll be forced to sit out until his health is at least 50%. While he is sitting out, he will not practice. Once his health is over 50%, he'll return to practice even if he's not dressing for games.

#312

Game Planning

Q.

What is the deadline for changing settings such as tempo, offensive distribution, double teams, etc and still having them be effective for that mornings games?

A.

Games are normally played between 2-3 am and pm EST. The only way to ensure that your changes are used for the next game is to have them in by 12:00 EST.

The tempo refers to the speed at which you want your offense to run. The faster the tempo, the quicker you'll be shooting and the more conditioning your players will require.

#319

Game Planning

Q.

How do the team 3 pt. frequency settings work?

A.

You can set an option to adjust the frequency of 3 point shots up or down based on certain game situations. So if the situation matches what your settings indicate, the SimEngine will adjust your team's 3 point frequency. The values for the setting range from +5 (take 3pt shots as much as possible, although that certainly does NOT mean every shot will be a 3 pt. shot) all the way down to -5 (rarely take 3pt. shots).

#320

Game Planning

Q.

What does the defensive positioning setting do?

A.

This setting allows you to focus your defense on a particular area of the floor such as tightly guarding the perimeter or packing the lane. Each has it's pros and cons. If you focus too much on the outside, you'll give their outside shooters fits and you'll probably be called for less fouls, but their low post players will have an easier time inside as will players that drive to the hole. You'll also be out of position for many rebounds.

On the other hand, if you focus on stopping the inside game, you'll give a good passing team many open outside shots, but you'll have more players in position to rebound.

#321

Game Planning

Q.

What does the 'allow halftime adjustment' defensive positioning setting do?

A.

This option give the sim permission to adjust your defensive positioning by up to +/- 2 based on the offense of the opposing team.

The amount of the adustment is based on the percentage of points the opposing team is scoring from outside vs. inside. For example, if you set your defense to a -2 and the other team is producing a 20 of their 30 total first half points from the perimeter, your defensive positioning would be adjusted to a 0 to come out and help guard the perimeter.

Please keep in mind that there won't necessarily be an adjustment at halftime even if your criteria for adjustment are met. The sim will only adjust if you're adjustment criteria are met AND your opponent is scoring a signficant percentage from the inside or outside relative to your defensive positioning. Sometimes you may be losing but you're playing the right defensive position so no adjustment will be made.

#322

Game Planning

Q.

How do the offensive distribution settings work?

A.

The offensive distribution settings allow you to distribute offensive touches to individual players by applying relative weightings. The offensive distribution settings are found on the player game plan page within your office. You can distribute points to each player (100 maximum total points) indicate which players should get more touches in your half-court offense. This only affects who will have plays run for them in your offense based on the defense you are playing against.

Offensive distribution does NOT refer to shots that come from non-halfcourt offense - this includes offensive rebounds and transition baskets.

You can dictate who the offense will run through by allotting players distribution points. So if you have your starting 5 set to 18,18,18,18,18 all players will get a relatively equal number of touches/shots. If 4 backups come into the game, and you're at 18,1,1,1,1 (for example) - the player with the 18 would now be taking 81% (18/22= 81%) of the shots.

These are your ideal distributions - obviously the defense will be able to impact your offense when the game is played via defensive positioning (see above) and double teams (see below).

You can, and should, set your distributions for the 4 possible defenses you can face throughout the season (and even within a single game). Simply select each defense from the dropdown list to enter your settings for that defense. If a team switches defenses during a game, you will automatically switch to the appropriate offensive distribution and 3 pt. frequency settings that you've entered.

NOTE: If you leave all of the distribution points to zero for all players, the engine will determine the frequency at which players will shoot and their frequency of 3 pt. shots. This is not recommended as the computer only looks at your offensive skills - ignoring the opposing team and their defensive style completely.

#323

Game Planning

Q.

Why did one of my players take more/less shots than I set in the offensive distribution?

A.

There are several factors that determine how offensive distribution settings translate to shot attempts in a game. First, keep in mind that not every player possession ends up in a shot. The player may also turn the ball over or get fouled.

Also remember that the distribution points are relative to the other 4 players on the court on a given possession. For example if you set four players to a 1 and one player to a 10, he's going to get far more than 10% of the shots while those 5 are on the floor. In fact, he'll get about 71% of the shots (10/14).

Second, you have to look at minutes played, the more minutes he plays, the more shots he'll get so FGA should be looked at on a per minute basis, not on an absolute basis. You also have to factor in offensive rebounds and steals as both can lead to shots that are not part of the normal offensive sets.

You should also look at the play by play to determine how many possessions that particular player was fouled with not resulting foul shots as well as how many possessions led to turnovers. These are all possessions that will not yield FGA.

You also have to look at double-teams. When one or more players are double-teamed, that will lead to (normally) less shots for the double-teamed players and more shots for the non-double-teamed players.

You then need to look at FTA. A player who is fouled does not get charged for a FGA so if you see a player who shot 10 FTA, that's roughly the equivalent of 5 more FGA.

Finally, there is just random chance. On each possession your offensive distribution weightings are evaluated and someone will take the shot based on those numbers, but that is done on a possession by possession basis, which over the course of a season will balance out but may lead to more or less shots in an individual game.

#324

Game Planning

Q.

How do the individual 3 pt. frequency settings work?

A.

The individual 3 point frequency setting allows you to adjust the frequency on a player basis against each type of defense.

The possible 3 pt. settings are:

+2: Always look for the 3 pt. shot first

+1: Take more 3 pt. shots than normal

0: Take a 3 pt. shot as part of the flow of the offense. That is determined based on numerous factors, including a player's position, skills, the style of defense and the positioning of the defense.

-1: Take less 3 pt. shots than normal

-2: Never take a 3 pt. shot unless it's a desperation shot

NOTE: If you leave the offensive distribution values to zero for all players, the computer will decide who should take shots AND their frequency of 3 pt. attempts - EVEN IF YOU HAVE VALUES FOR 3 PT. FREQUENCY.

#325

Game Planning

Q.

How do the target minute settings work?

A.

Target minutes allow you to provide a range of minutes you'd like to see each player receive during a normal game. Obviously, in close games or games which go to overtime, you're more likely to see your starters receive more playing time than your backups and vice versa.

In addition to providing a range of targeted playing time, you can also designate players to a 'mopup' role. This means that they'll play when the game is out of hand (or in case of emergency situations due to fouls, injuries, ejections, etc.). The other option is to designate a player as 'rest'. This option is only available for players who were injured and are not yet 100%. They will NOT dress for the game.

#326

Game Planning

Q.

How do the double team options work?

A.

Double teaming a player will put more defensive pressure on the player selected, reducing his shot attempts/efficiency and possibly forcing more turnovers.

On the other hand, if a player is double teamed, that means somebody is open - giving the open player(s) more open shots than they'd normally see.

Setting a player to 'always' will attempt to double team him when he has the ball. Setting a player to 'leading scorer' will only attempt to double team him if he is the leading point scorer for his team.

Keep in mind that the defense won't be able to successfully execute the double-team on every possession.

#327

Game Planning

Q.

What happens if I set everyone to double team always?

A.

On any given possession, you may be double teaming up to 2 players. If you've selected to always double team 3 or more players and they are on the floor at the same time, nobody will be double teamed .

#328

Game Planning

Q.

What if I select 2 players to double team always and 1 to double if he's the leading scorer - which takes precedence?

A.

When you choose to always double team a player, that takes precedence over any other setting. The only exception is if you have settings which would cause 3 or players to be double teamed at the same time. For example, if you have 2 players set to double-team always and 1 player set to double-team when leading scorer (and he is the leading scorer), when those 3 are on the floor at the same time, no one will be double teamed .

#329

Game Planning

Q.

How does the option to play my backups more work?

A.

These settings allow you to insert backups into the game once the outcome has been safely decided. There is a separate setting for when you're winning and when you're losing. The SimEngine will then give your 2nd string players more precedence to come into the game.

You may want to use this option if you want to help protect your starters from injury and/or to provide valuable playing time to your younger players. If your team is already young, you may not want to use this option so your players will get as much experience as possible regardless of the score.

#330

Game Planning

Q.

Can I still play a player whose health is less than 100%?

A.

Yes, as long as he is at least 50% health, but keep in mind that he will be less effective than normal.

#334

Game Planning

Q.

Why do certain teams foul more than others?

A.

There are many variables which go into a team/player's propensity to foul. In no particular order:

team defense played (zone, man, press)

defensive positioning (inside v. outside)

player's defensive ratings

player's defensive IQ

speed

athleticism

home/away

opponent offense played

opponent 3 pt setting (more 3s = less fouls, less 3s=more fouls)

opponent offensive ratings (low post, perimeter)

opponent offensive IQ

opponent speed

opponent athleticism

#694

Game Planning

Q.

How does home court advantage affect games?

A.

Basically, homecourt advantage boosts the performance of the home team in many areas, including shooting, rebounding, and defense.

#696

Game Planning

Q.

How do the foul trouble controls work on the Player Gameplan page?

A.

These settings allow you to control how you want to deal with individual players as they pick up fouls. The engine will automatically determine whether to take a player out or leave him in based on the number of fouls, time remaining, position on the depth chart and score. This is considered 'normal' subsitituion logic. You may also choose to set a player to be dealt with 'more aggressively' or 'less aggressively'. If you choose more aggressive then you're telling the engine that you're willing to leave the player on the court longer than normal and vice versa for the less aggressive option.

#715

Game Planning

Q.

How does the auto-adjust tempo option work?

A.

It allows the SimEngine to adjust your team's offensive tempo based on the situation in the game. In general, an adjustment will be made later in the game if your default tempo doesn't match a given situation. For example, if you're an Up-Tempo team and have the lead late in the game, the SimEngine will switch you to Normal or Slow-Down to run out more clock on each possession. On the other end, if you're a Slow-Down team and are trailing, the Sim-Engine may increase your team's tempo to catch up.

#735

Game Planning

Q.

I am curious about the Doubleteam setting - If you set a player to doubleteam if leading scorer does that mean leading scorer of the entire team or leading scorer of the team presently on the floor?

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